Prize Recipient

Marina S. Leite
University of Maryland, College Park

Marina S. Leite, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Leite’s group is engaged in fundamental and applied research in materials for energy harvesting and storage, including photovoltaics, plasmonics, and all-solid-state batteries. Some of Dr. Leite’s findings have been featured on the covers of numerous scientific journals, including Advanced Energy Materials, ACS Photonics, and Applied Physics Letters.. Her research is currently supported by the Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems and the Division of Materials Research at the National Science Foundation, and by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. In 2008, Dr. Leite received her Ph.D. in physics from Campinas State University (Brazil), and the Brazilian Synchrotron National Laboratory, She received her B.S.in chemistry from Pernambuco Federal University (Recife, Brazil) in 2000. Before joining UMD, Dr. Leite was a postdoctoral scholar in applied physics at the California Institute of Technology (Pasadena), and worked at the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland.. Dr. Leite is the recipient of the 2014 Maryland Academy of Science Young Outstanding Scientist Award, the 2009 Brazilian Physical Society Ph.D. Thesis Honor Award,and the 2008 The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics Young Author Best Paper Award. Collectively, Dr. Leite and her team members have received 40 awards and honors related to the research developed under her guidance. Dr. Leite is a member of the American Physical Society, the Materials Research Society, the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.